Borrowed Heritage
by Rytonsama
Summary: You may think it's common sense, or perhaps it'll come as a surprise, but scientist's and researchers aren't always the most knowledgeable on how to handle Pokemon. That's where I come in. I make sure all the Pokemon passing through the laboratory are handled safely and humanly, regardless of what their origin story is. Maybe that's why I never seem to get along with her...
1. The Woman

**AN: I will try and keep future Author Notes to a minimum, but as this is the beginning of a new story, I wanted to make some things clear from the get-go. The rating on this story was tricky for me. I wanted to try and make my writing accessible to as large an audience as possible, but with some of the more adult themes being addressed, chiefly some descriptions of violence, I didn't quite feel comfortable with a 'T' rating. If you, the readers, feel that this writing would be acceptable in that rating bracket, please let me know so that I can make the appropriate changes. However, until then, this will remain a 'M' rating work due to the violence. Why am I being so explicit about the rating stemming from the violence? There are basically three things that will give a story a 'M' rating. Violence, swearing, and sex. I've decided to include violence in my story because I think it adds a weight to my story that benefits it, however, you are free to disagree and tell me so. It is a personal belief of mine that swearing is indicative of a limited vocabulary and unimaginative individual. I consider my vocabulary above average and my imagination quite active and as such, try to avoid swearing except where, again, my story benefits. You are, again, encouraged to share your thoughts on that. Lastly, sex. I will only say that often times, our individual imagination does a much better job than most writers will be able to manage on this website. I do not encourage discussion on this topic, at least not here and in the open. On to better things.**

 **This story was born of a desire to have a more 'grown up' story that takes place in the Pokemon universe that doesn't revolve around Ash Ketchum and his decidedly 'not grown up' character. I mean, I've been watching the guy for near a decade now and he hasn't aged very much behaviorally or physically since the first day I saw him. There are great stories about Ash and it's undeniable he has his altruistic and grown up moments, but I wanted to have a fresh start and an OC is the best way to do that. I've also always had a thing for eevee and all the eeveelutions there are and wanted a story that helped explain some of the oddities that apply to my favorite pokemon. To my knowledge, the 'facts' presented in my story are not official and shouldn't be treated as such. It goes without saying that I do not represent any entity that owns Pokemon, so everything presented in this work shouldn't be taken as fact unless you feel like modeling your own head-canon after anything I present. This story will stick to first person narrative for its entirety, so if that isn't your jam, I'm sorry, but #dealwithit. That isn't to say that it will be a static perspective though...**

 **Finally, before I let you loose on a story that has been in development for over a year and still isn't done at the time of this writing, I wish to thank you for any time you put in to my work. Whether you review or not, the time you spend reading over the words I've written means a lot to me and I appreciate any additional energy you expend in leaving a review or sending me a message or, for those of you bold enough to do it, telling your friends. Now, without further flowery introduction, I give you my story, Borrowed Heritage.**

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[CHAPTER 1: The Woman]

Cynic.

I sighed and uncrossed my arms as I leaned off the white wall I had been resting against. I took a quick glance towards the electronic display next to the door I had been waiting by for thirty minutes now.

LOCKED

I sighed again, though no one was around to hear my contemptuous heavy breaths, so I wasn't even sure why I was making the effort. I walked up to the large one-way window that looked down into the artificial habitation. From this level in the lab, I had a good view of the entire habitation space. Despite the distracting view, the five letter word popped back into my thoughts.

Cynic.

"Well, when you've seen what I have, maybe we can talk…" I muttered to myself as I watched a couple of pokemon dart through some foliage.

Our lab currently studies over a hundred different species of pokemon, all of them quadrupedal. As a rule, we try to have a male and female of each of those species to act as both a practical balance to our research projects and a physiological balance to the actual pokemon themselves. And then there are some species where pack or heard mentality is also a study point. Basically, there are a lot of pokemon at our facility, and well over a third of them are rescues. The situation or circumstances of those rescues may be just as varied as pokemon biodiversity, but the root cause of nearly every single one of them is identical.

A human.

Cynic? No. If labels must be handed out, then mine should be that of a realist. I took another glance back at the electronic display beside the door.

UNLOCKED

"About time," I muttered to myself, walking over to the door and entering the code. A pleasant chime sounded as it quickly slid open to let me into the sterile-smelling room.

"If you were as prompt at bringing the specimens here as you were with removing them, your evaluations from me just might shoot up a few points," a woman in a pristine lab coat remarked from a large stainless steel sink in a corner of the room. I pressed my lips firmly together to keep from replying, instead choosing to quickly scan the room for the two eevee the woman had been researching. I quickly spotted the couple, a sylveon and flareon, lying motionless in the cage I had been forced to bring them in.

"Relax, they're just sedated," the woman casually told me as she threw her long auburn hair over her shoulder. Regardless, I hurriedly made my way over to the cage, relaxing only once I saw the slight movement of breathing from the two pokemon. I lifted the cage gently from the counter and placed it onto the cart that was still in the room from when I had brought the eevee's up.

"You know," the woman began as she started walking toward me, her heels clacking loudly against the clean, white tiled floor, "that's easily over a hundred pounds. You must be pretty strong to handle it as deftly as you do."

"Occupational necessity," I replied tersely and professionally as I crouched down, making a point to focus on securing the cage to the cart and not look at the woman I knew was right behind me. "There's some things you just have to develop during the course of this job."

"Is a cold personality one of them?" the woman asked coquettishly. I stopped my fiddling with the securing straps, my ploy at trying to seem busy failing to keep me from a conversation I really didn't want to have. Especially with this particular person.

"No," I replied as I stood up and turned around. "Why do you do this, Yovana?"

"Is it so hard to believe that someone might find you-"

"I mean this," I reiterated, gesturing to the two eevee in the cage by my feet. "You're the only one who requests I bring the pokemon to your lab in a cage. The only one who sedates them every time. The only one who locks their door for every session." The woman was silent for a few moments, her previously flirtatious behavior gone.

"What are you implying?" she finally asked, her tone now one of cold professionalism.

"I'm implying nothing," I replied evenly, not breaking eye contact. We stared each other down for another couple of moments before the lab's paging system suddenly broke the silence in the room.

"Shinen Abe, your presence is requested in the Hab. Shinen Abe, to the Hab."

"Sounds like you're needed somewhere else," Yovana said at last, her voice still professional, but not as bone chilling cold as it had been only a few moments ago. "I'll let you get to it." With that, she walked away from me towards a computer terminal, her heels seeming to clack even louder in the silent room. I wasted no time pushing the cart with the two eevee's out of the room and through the halls, taking the shortest route to the artificial habitat I knew. Along the way, the sylveon, Yumi, and his flareon mate, Moeru, finally woke up from their drug induced sleep.

"Hey guys," I greeted as they sleepily took stock of their situation. "Just a little bit longer, you're almost home," I explained as Moeru gave a quiet mew, looking at the cage and then me. As soon as I was in the Hab, I opened the cage door and gave the two eevee a handful of berries. "Sorry about that," I said as I gave each of them a quick head rub and scratch behind the ears. "I've got to go and see what they need me for. Go find a quiet place to eat those berries," I encouraged, giving the sylveon a playful wink. I wasn't sure if the fairy type could even begin to understand my innuendo, but didn't stick around to see.

I began jogging through the trees and bushes to find where I was needed. It didn't take long before I found a group of people murmuring to each other.

"Hey, did you guys page for me?" I asked as I drew close to the group.

"Shin! Thank goodness! We were starting to worry you had gone home sick or something," Henry said as he ushered me forward.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked concernedly as I began looking around frantically.

"It's the new absol, Hanta," Henry began nervously. "It was getting near feeding time for him and Karie, but when Alyssa came out here to feed them, she found this," he finished, pointing over towards a clearing about ten meters away. I quickly and silently made my way towards the open area, the rest of the group sticking back as they tended to do whenever there was an issue with any of our dark types. Once I reached the small opening in the trees, I almost laughed once I realized what was going on.

Hanta was new to the Hab, though that didn't mean he was a baby. He, like Karie, our female absol, were both considered 'young adults'. However, the difference between the two wasn't their age but upbringing. While Hanta was what we liked to call a retiree, a pokemon a trainer no longer used but was too domesticated to be released into the wild, Karie was one of our rarer 'wild rescues'. She had been found after a particularly nasty storm, a broken tree branch impaled in her side that would've killed her if she hadn't been found and brought to our lab when she had been. She had long since made a full recovery and was currently on our list for eligible pokemon to be adopted, but not many trainers or families could handle her wild personality. In fact, not many at the lab could handle her personality either. We had tried releasing her to the wild numerous times, but she seemed intent on staying at the lab.

With their different histories, the two often were at odds with each other. Normal 'wild' behaviors Karie was used to were completely foreign to Hanta and the male was too ingrained in his trainer upbringing to learn. For instance, while bearing ones teeth and brandishing your scythe-like horn with a low growl, all while wagging ones tail are indications for a playful fight in the wild, they're easily misinterpreted threats to any trainer-raised pokemon. Hanta clearly knew who was the more experienced fighter and was lying low before Karie in a form of submission. But Karie wanted to play and wasn't going to stop until she got what she wanted.

"Well, if that's what you want," I chuckled softly to myself, unstrapping a six inch utility blade from my belt. It wouldn't be the first time I served as Karie's playmate, and as long as Hanta was around, it probably wouldn't be the last.

"Hey, Karie!" I called out to the absol, who quickly spun around to face me, immediately noticing the knife in my hand and taking up her challenging position again. My smile grew as I lowered myself to a fighting position and began to circle the absol who followed my every move with her bright red eyes. Hanta seized his opportunity and fled the clearing, leaving the two of us to face off undisturbed.

Just as she always would, Karie was the first to charge me, her horn glowing a dull white. I raised my blade and deflected her blow, giving her a solid shove with my shoulder as she barreled past me. We quickly faced each other again, the absol rearing on her hind legs to get up to my height and leverage her weight. Before she could tackle me with the full force of her controlled fall, I rushed forward and tackled her, causing her to unbalance and fall on her side. I tried to jump out of range of her before she recovered, but underestimated her speed and extra appendage, falling as she swept at my feet with her tail.

I lost the grip on my blade and fell to the ground with a solid thud. To add insult to injury, Karie quickly jumped up on top of me and refused to move despite my violent thrashing to try and get her off. After a few moments, I gave up and just stayed sandwiched between the absol and the ground, letting my mind wander and wonder about what Yovana was up to. She had only ever wanted to work with our eevee, and through my stonewalling, had only been able to work with Yumi and Moeru. I wasn't sure what she was researching or studying, but I didn't want the pair's single offspring involved in it. Not to be forgotten about or ignored, Karie gave a low growl, breaking me from my thoughts.

"You going to let me get up now?" I asked, giving the absol's head a quick rub. Placated, the pokemon got off and waited until I had re-sheathed my dropped blade before she came to my side and nudged my hand.

"Hungry now, huh?" I asked to which the absol gave a small nod. I smiled and began to make my way back to the group that had been waiting in the trees.

"Shin, what happ- Behind you!" Alex, one of the people who had waited in the shade, shouted as I approached with the absol behind me.

"It's fine," I said, waving away everyone's fears before giving Karie another quick head rub. "Where did Alyssa leave their food?" I asked Henry as everyone continued to give the absol weary glances.

"She, uh, w-went after Hanta with it after he fled," Vivian, a fellow handler stuttered as she glanced between Karie and I. Unfazed by the woman's irrational fear of the absol, I nodded my understanding and went in the direction Hanta had fled.

Once Karie and I were out of range of the others, I let out yet another sigh. It bugged me how many people had misconceptions about dark types and how many more acted out on those misconceptions.

"Am I cynical, Karie?" I asked the absol as we walked through the vegetation that Hanta had ran through. The absol made a noise, almost like a small whine, prompting me to glance down at the pokemon beside me to see it looking right back at me. "Right, food first, psychological introspection later."

"Shin?" a female voice suddenly called out. "Was that you?" I changed my heading towards where the voice had come from and after walking through some particularly thick plants, found Alyssa and Hanta.

"Ah, there's Karie," Alyssa said with a friendly smile as the female absol came over to where Alyssa had poured out some food for Hanta. Alyssa quickly poured some more food for Karie before the female absol challenged Hanta for what was left. Alyssa was one of the only other handlers who weren't afraid to at least interact with our few dark types, endearing her somewhat to many of them. "Thanks for dealing with Karie again," Alyssa said as we left the two Absol to eat. "I don't want to think what would've happened if you hadn't shown up."

"She probably would've just vented on some tree again," I replied, thinking back to an occasion where Karie hadn't had me to substitute as her dueling partner and had instead attacked one of our larger trees, resulting in one less tree in the Hab. "That was a good tree too…" I muttered.

"What was that?" Alyssa asked, not quite catching my muttering.

"Nothing," I quickly replied.

"Right, well, regardless, I'm glad you were able to save a tree today if nothing else," Alyssa laughed. She took a quick glance at her watch, causing her eyebrows to rise a little. "Wow, time sure flies when you're dealing with those two." I took a glance at my own wrist and saw it was about time for my shift to end, along with most of the other Hab caretakers. "Oh," Alyssa suddenly exclaimed, remembering something. "Before I forget again, Osborne said he'd like to see you before you head out for the day." I quirked my eye brow questioningly, but Alyssa just gave an unknowing shrug.

"Guess I should head over to him then," I replied giving a small sigh. It was probably in my best interest to visit the overseer of the lab if he had wanted to see me before I left today.

After saying goodby to Alyssa, I headed over to the male locker room and changed out of my work clothes, making sure to stop by Osborn's office before leaving.

"Sir, Alyssa said you wanted to see me?" I asked after knocking on the door frame of the open office.

"Ah, Shin! Yes, yes. Come in and have a seat. Grab the door on your way in if you wouldn't mind. Some tea?" the man asked as he got up from his chair and headed towards a coffee table he had set up in one of the corners of the room.

"No thanks," I declined as I shut the door behind me, making my way to a chair that was across from the man's desk. Osborn quickly finished making himself some herbal brew before coming back to sit behind his desk. After a quick sip of his steaming tea, the man steepled his fingers and took a long look at me.

"Let me start by saying that you aren't in any kind of trouble," the man said after noticing how worried my face appeared.

"The fact that has to even be said-"

"I know," Osborn nodded before repeating himself a little more softly, more to himself than anything. "I know." After another moment and another sip of tea, he resumed speaking. "She really doesn't like you, which makes all of this that much stranger. I've never had a single complaint about you until she showed up. In fact, over seventy percent of our employee review critiques were positive ones about you. Still are, by the way, but you've been getting a negative one weekly on the dot since she showed up. So whats up? Why is it that Yovana dislikes you so much?"

What could I say? That the woman and I had different viewpoints on how research should be conducted on pokemon? I may know the best way to calm down a frenzied tauros or nurse a newborn aron, but out of Yovana and I, she had a degree on pokemon research. Supposedly. For the billionth time, I sighed at my small dilemma.

"Well," I began, deciding to just spill it all. Osborn wasn't my psychiatrist, not that I had one anyways, but he was my boss. If I was out of line for the attitude I was giving Yovana, then maybe we could do something to make it so I didn't have to work with her. If, however, it was Yovana who was out of line…

So I spent the next half hour laying out my case against Yovana. All the things she did that I just didn't agree with, from her sedation of the eevee she worked with, to the secretive nature she maintained with her research, even bringing up the way she required me to bring the eevee to her in a cage. I could see that most of what I was telling Osborn was news to him, his eyebrows raising at some of the things that Yovana had me do or that she did herself. Once I had finished, the man took a deep breath and leaned back in his plush armchair.

"Well," the man said after a pregnant pause. "I can see why you two don't get along." After another moment of thinking, the man nodded to himself about something and turned back towards me. "Well, after everything you just shared, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'm going to have a talk with Yovana tomorrow and see if we can't change some of her practices." I was doubtful that Yovana would listen to even Osborn, but I wasn't about to tell the man that. If he wanted to at least try diplomacy, I wasn't going to stop him. We exchanged good-bye's and after I double checked that the night crew was good, I left for home.

I wasn't even inside my house for three seconds before I was greeted with a happy 'kin' from Kogeta, the fennekin my ex-girlfriend had left behind after finding out the pokemon was more attached to me than herself, something that hadn't helped our already rocky relationship. After dropping off my bag near the door, I stepped into my kitchen and whipped up a quick meal for Kogeta and myself. That evening I fell asleep a little easier than I normally did, believing that Yovana would soon be gone from my life.

The next morning I woke up with Kogeta sleeping peacefully at the foot of my bed. I carefully got out to begin my day, being mindful not to disturb the Fennekin. When my morning routine was nearly complete, Kogeta wandered out of my room like clockwork to give me a quick departing 'kin' before I left for the lab.

Once I stepped through the doors of my workplace though, I could tell today would be a rough one. A strange quiet fell as I walked through the front lobby and then the male locker rooms to get changed. I noticed a few angry looks from some of the other guys and for the life of me I couldn't figure out the reason until I began my work, starting with refilling some of the golden hay in our stable area for the larger animals.

"Is it true?"Alyssa asked, stepping out from behind a pair of sawsbucks that had been eating from a freshly refilled trough.

"Is what true?" I asked, slightly confused yet hopeful that Alyssa might know what all the strange attitudes might've been caused by.

"They're saying that you got Yovana fired."

"Really?" I asked, surprised. I knew that Osborn would do something, he had always been a man of his word, but I definitely hadn't been expecting Yovana to get the sack in less than 12 hours. After my initial shock, I couldn't help but sport a little grin earning a slight frown from Alyssa.

"Are you really smiling about this? Someone's losing their job!"

"I know, and under normal circumstances, I'd be just as upset as I'm sure you are. But in this case, for this woman, I just can't help but feel like things will be better with her gone." For a moment, Alyssa looked like she was about to storm off and give me the same treatment that everyone else had been giving me since the start of the day. And I would've been fine with that. I didn't need anyone on my side for this. I wasn't getting this woman out of here because of some disagreement between the two of us, but because it was the best thing for the pokemon I worked with and cared for. But something either in my tone or face had been genuine enough for Alyssa to grow some doubt.

"What do you mean by that?" the woman asked hesitantly, lingering near the large deer pokemon, absently beginning to stroke the flank of the animal much to its delight. I began to explain everything that I had noted about the woman and her treatment of the pokemon we looked after. Slowly, Alyssa's look of skepticism was replaced by shock and then something of a righteous anger I hadn't ever really seen on her face before.

"I can't believe I've never noticed," the girl said as she finished giving the sawsbuck beside her its impromptu massage.

"You probably wouldn't have," I tried reassuring her as I began to move to my next task, Alyssa following my lead. "Yovana only really works with the eevee."

"Well then, it's no wonder you noticed when no one else had," Alyssa half laughed. "Those eevee only ever let you near them." I opened my mouth to tell my co-worker differently, but after a moment, I really couldn't recall the last time anyone besides me had handled any of the eevee.

"Huh," I muttered dumbly, realizing Alyssa was right.

"Seems like I'm not the only unobservant one," Alyssa giggled. We ended up doing most of our morning chores together, chatting about things as various pokemon watched us. There had been a moment where Yumi had come out of some bushes and walked around Alyssa and I. Alyssa had gone silent when she spotted the sylveon walking around us. I crouched down and took out a few berries I always carried with me, holding them out for the sylveon to take. Yumi carefully extended his feelers out, using two to take and carry his bounty and another to brush against my hand as a kind of thanks.

"Do you know the story behind Yumi's arrival?" Alyssa asked after a moment of extended silence once Yumi left. I shook my head indicating I hadn't. Yumi and Moeru had been here since I started working, their eevee offspring though, I had been there for that. Alyssa on the other hand, had been here a year or two before I arrived and knew some stories I still hadn't heard.

"Yumi, back when he was still an eevee, used to be owned by a young male trainer," Alyssa began as we continued to walk towards the 'arctic' area of the Hab, the temperature steadily dropping as we continued on. "The trainer knew that in order to evolve an eevee into an umbreon, you needed to befriend them and train them at night as often as possible." I nodded in understanding. It was pretty common for owners of an eevee to seek to evolve them to a specific type of the many different variations there were. I had always thought that if I had an eevee, I would've just trained it and be surprised by what it decided to evolve into, if anything. However, I was pulled from my personal musings by Alyssa continuing her story as we came up to a tree that had a concealed locker inside it for some winter coats so we wouldn't freeze in the cold environment we were entering.

"However, I guess the trainer did too good a job trying to become the eevee's friend," Alyssa said with a mirthless chuckle as she grabbed coats for the two of us. "His eevee ended up evolving into a sylveon. The trainer was pretty upset that his only eevee ended up looking like a 'doll' and abandoned it." Alyssa stopped walking for a moment and looked down at her feet. "Can you imagine," she almost whispered. "Being loved, and then once you show it, you're abandoned." I stopped walking and looked at Alyssa as she continued looking down at her feet. Suddenly she spun around and looked back at me.

"Did you know you're the only human Yumi's touched with his ribbons since then?" I raised my eyebrow at her sudden declaration. Alyssa seemed to suddenly become embarrassed at something she had said. "I'm sorry, I... I don't know why I even started going on about any of this," she stuttered, turning back around and walking off faster than she had been before.

"It's okay," I quickly replied, not sure what else to say to everything she had said. There was a lot to process without trying to understand why Alyssa had suddenly got all bashful. The woman in front of me gave a single, quick nod without turning back around. We finished up our work in the arctic area and separated for lunch, Alyssa saying she had made plans to eat with another one of her co-workers. I went back to the locker room, enduring some more resentful stares while I grabbed my lunch. Once I was back in the Hab, I went to my favorite secluded spot and began to eat my simple meal.

Technically, eating or otherwise 'hanging out' in the Hab was frowned upon. The lab wanted to keep the Hab as authentic and true to nature as possible to keep any tests accurate. But even trainers eat and sleep out in the open sometimes, so if anything, I was helping increase the realism with my small rule-breaking. However, eating in the Hab does present some challenges if you're not careful. In the middle of my meal, a rustling bush announced the arrival of Karie, who, as soon as she recognized me, began to playfully growl and lower herself for a quick tackle should I rise to her challenge. Almost any other time, I'd be pulling out my knife for a quick play break, but I was in the middle of eating and really didn't feel like interrupting the flow of my meal.

Answering my prayer for peace, Yumi showed up and as soon as Karie noticed the fairy type, settled back down and walked off. I let out a small sigh of relief and looked over at Yumi who I swore had a small smile with the way his two pointed teeth were showing.

"Thanks bud," I said with a gentle smile, reaching into my shirt pocket to pull out the rest of the berries I had been carrying around. But instead of coming to take them, the sylveon gave a soft call over his shoulder. Out from the bushes ran Hibiki, the eevee child of Yumi and Moeru. Hibiki came right up to my hand with the berries in it and was quickly trying to get to the treats just out of her reach. Just as I was getting ready to play with her however, my attention was once again pulled back to the bush she had just emerged from.

Out from the bush came the rarest sight I had ever seen, a silver haired eevee.

The small eevee gingerly made its way towards me, seemingly just as unsure of me as I was of them. Moeru closely followed her child before stopping to sit next to Yumi who was watching as his two children interacted with me. I felt afraid to move too much, and even if I hadn't been, my brain was shouting so many questions that I probably couldn't have done more than stare blankly as the silver eevee came up to my hand that was still being attacked by Hibiki.

"Well, hey there," I said once I finally got some of my faculties back. I finally lowered my hand, allowing the two eevee to get to the berries I was holding. I looked back up towards Yumi and Moeru who had both chosen to lay in the grass near by. Both parents were watching me, and I could feel the protective intent clearly from Moeru who was being stroked every so often by one of Yumi's ribbons. I looked back down at the two eevee busy snacking on the berries I had just given them. This was the first time I had seen the second young eevee and I was still trying to figure out how Yumi and Moeru had hidden their extremely rare child from everyone at the lab and why they were just now showing them off to me.

"What's your name?" I asked the silver eevee as they finished up their berry. I gingerly reached out and gave the small eevee a gentle rub. The initial touch made them jump at first, but once they realized I wasn't trying to harm them, the eevee leaned into my hand heavily. Not to be ignored, Hibiki quickly nuzzled her way into my other hand as well. I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as the two eevee continued to nuzzle into my hands as I rubbed their heads.

"Guess I'll need to come up with one for you soon," I spoke gently as I stopped giving the two young eevee attention and began to pick up the remainder of my lunch. The two youngsters seemed somewhat discontent that their heads were no longer being rubbed, but Moeru quickly rounded up the two children and disappeared into the nearby growth, not dawdling now that my introduction to the silver haired eevee was complete. Yumi remained for a moment, watching me pack up.

"Don't worry bud," I said, noticing the sylveon's stare. "I'm not going to blab about your kid."

As if he had been waiting for me to say so, Yumi seemed to nod his head before jumping into the bushes after his family.

The rest of the day was touch and go, with a lot of people still giving me sidelong glances and whispers silencing themselves when I approached. I had never really been close to anyone I worked with, so the treatment didn't hurt me as much as it probably could have, especially since I knew that at least one other handler was on my side. Still, it was enough of a downer to cause me to not be as punctual with some of my tasks, forcing me to be caught staying later than most of the other employees. I was just finishing up one of my last tasks in the dimming light of the Hab as it began to shift to night cycle when I heard a loud, distressed mew from the far side of the expansive room.

It was well past quitting time, and with it being a Friday, most people had left even earlier to start their weekends with an extra couple of hours. I frowned as the sound came again, sounding more distressed this time, if that was even possible. It was rare, but sometimes small fights occurred between the different pokemon at the Hab. Deciding to break up whatever was happening before it got too serious, I quickly made my way towards where I had heard the noises coming from. As I got closer, the distressed cries became more frequent and recognizable, putting a real fear in my heart as I realized it was Moeru who was calling out. Just as my panic began to peak, the cries suddenly turned from distressed to angry. A split second later, a large ball of fire came from ten meters away, the heat and light so intense it caused me to dive down to the cool dirt. After a second, I lifted my head from the moist soil and looked back towards where the fire attack had come from. I quickly realized this was no small squabble between pokemon.

Standing in the middle of a smoldering circle of charred vegetation was a person wearing a full black suit of armor and helmet that, other than some slight smoldering, looked unaffected by the intense fire attack it had just been hit with. Quick as lightning, the figure pulled some kind of gun shaped weapon from a holster on their hip and began to train it on the flareon that had just attacked them.

"STOP!" I shouted, breaking from my stunned silence and leaping up from my prone position on the ground, simultaneously beginning to undo the strap that held my utility blade in place. The figure was thrown off by my shouting and when they discharged their weapon, the ground beside Moeru broke apart from whatever had been shot. The flareon hissed in pain, but quickly limped into some of the bushes that weren't burnt behind it. The figure quickly spun around to face me, wielding their gun shaped weapon, but I had my utility knife out now and was close enough to knock the weapon from their surprised grip. However, the suited figure wasn't caught off guard for long because they quickly followed up with their other hand and punched the side of my face hard enough for me to fall down to the ground. I tried to scramble back up to face the dangerous person, but found them already reaching for their weapon to quickly train it back on me. However, before they could fire, Moeru leapt out of the bushes she had retreated into, biting the arm of our attacker.

The person cried out in pain but maintained their grip on their gun and swung their arm like a club into the ground, further injuring the flareon. Wounded and winded, Moeru could barely try to stand up before the figure leveled their weapon to the fire type eevee.

"NO!" I shouted out, reaching towards the two as the weapon discharged, causing the pokemon to go limp and still. For a moment, the burnt out clearing was silent save for the slight crackle of still smoldering grass and bush.

I felt a great welling of anger and grief inside me at the sight of Moeru and gave a primal shout as I sprung up and charged the armored figure with my knife clenched tightly in my fist. Their weapon discharged twice as I ran towards them, pain erupting in my left arm and right thigh, but I continued charging, smacking the person right in the torso, flinging their weapon from their grip. I tried to lash out with my knife, but my hand was quickly smacked away before I could land any hits. I instead tried using my other hand to punch the person in their side. I heard the person give another grunt of pain, but before I could celebrate, I got kicked in the side feeling my bones give to the strong force. I fell to the ground, the knife I had clung to flying from my hands. I watched the metal blade land out of reach and skid to a halt before the pink and white slender feet of Yumi. The clearing once again became as silent as a tomb as the sylveon looked first at me, then my attacker, and finally, his fallen mate.

The only warning I had to avert my gaze was the slight twitch in Yumi's feelers. I quickly closed my eyes and turned my head as a sudden flash of light filled the dark evening clearing followed by a massive burst of force. I tried to get up and help Yumi take on our attacker, but the injury to my thigh caused me to wince and hiss painfully before I collapsed back to the ground. Yumi wasn't waiting for either me or the stumbling black suited figure to recover, following up his dazzle gleam with swift as a series of energetic bursts came from where he was standing and each one connecting cleanly with the black suited figure.

This attacker had prepared for this battle though. The same armor that had resisted Moeru's flamethrower seemed to also be resisting everything Yumi was throwing at it. Though the figure was stumbling about with each impact, they clearly weren't going to be taken out by it. During a lull in Yumi's assault, the figure lunged at their dropped weapon, quickly fiddling with the device. Before they could train it on either Yumi or I however, a small silver torpedo launched itself at the figures fumbling hands. There was a cry of pain as the silver eevee child bit the figures fingers, latching itself onto their hands even as the black armored figure desperately tried to fling them off as they had with Moeru.

Yumi broke out of his shock before I could and ran forward with a desperate cry I hadn't heard from him before, knowing that his child didn't stand a chance against this person. The sylveon deftly bounded towards the figures legs, tripping them up with a combination of his feelers and legs. Once his opponent was on the ground, he wasted no time trying to go for the persons neck. I broke myself from watching the desperate struggle and began to crawl towards my dropped knife, knowing I would hate myself if I didn't try and get back into this fight. However, once I reached the blade, I heard a sickening wooden smack and for the third time that night, the clearing descended into a deathly silence.

I turned back towards where the action had been and saw that Yumi was now looking at the base of a tree instead of the black armored figure who was limping towards their gun. I quickly noticed the still, silver body at the base of the tree, but was drawn away from the heart wrenching sight by the metallic click of the weapon the figure was pointing at Yumi.

"YUMI!" I yelled out, desperately hoping the sylveon would still be able to move out of the way. The fairy type was able to notice the danger he was in quick enough to begin to move, but wasn't fast enough to avoid being hurt by the weapon the figure was wielding. The sylveon now had a large wound on his side as he collapsed near his fallen mate. I gave another angry cry as I adjusted my grip on my large knife and gave it a solid throw at the armored figure. Apparently they had forgotten about me and the blade lodged itself cleanly in the figures leg as they let out a scream of pain, falling to their good knee and dropping their weapon to clutch their injured leg.

I smirked in satisfaction before they pulled out a syringe from a separate pocket on their holster. They grunted in pain as they removed the blade from their leg and then injected them self with whatever was in the injector. I felt my face grow clammy and cold with fear as they threw the used needle into the bushes before slowly standing back up and picking up their weapon yet again. They ejected something from the handle of the weapon before reaching towards their belt and inserting a similar looking object back in. Then they aimed the weapon slowly and deliberately at me before firing.

I winced my eyes shut expecting some kind of cold and dark end, but instead began to feel numb all over. I opened my eyes and saw the figure still pointing their weapon at me. I followed their pointed gun and saw a needle of some kind in my shoulder. I tried reaching to pull it out, but I couldn't feel or move my arm at all. My attention was pulled back towards the black clad figure as they began to remove their helmet, letting their long auburn hair come out of the black cover. Yovana looked around the burnt clearing in the light of the evening moon as if she had suddenly just came upon the scene and hadn't been fighting for the last couple of minutes.

"Well, I honestly didn't see my last day working here going down quite like this," the woman said casually as she turned to look back at me. "But when people force your hand, sometimes things don't work out so cleanly."

"Why?" I asked in anger, even as I felt my tongue begin to numb as well, making speech difficult. Despite the numbing that was progressively coming over my body, it did nothing to ease the pain of the wounds on my leg and arm. However, I wasn't going to let that show in what were probably going to be my final moments. Yovana continued to look at me from her position for a moment longer, a small satisfied smirk growing on her otherwise inexpressive face at my obvious discomfort and pain. After relishing in whatever glory she thought she had attained, she reached back towards her holster and pulled out another injector of some sort. She then made her way towards the tree that the silver Eevee was laying at the base of.

"Normally, you're so cold an impersonal, Shin," the woman said, her annoying, flirtatious voice she used that drove me crazy in the worst way, lacing her words. "Does it take a little violence to get you to open up?" she teased as she reached the base of the tree. "Normally, I don't share such large secrets, but…" The woman turned back towards the tree before speaking again.

"Did you know that eevee are a man-made pokemon?" Yovana said as she looked down at the still pokemon. "Some pioneering researchers were curious why some pokemon evolved and others didn't. Nearly every pokemon that evolves becomes more powerful, more intelligent…" she continued without looking back at me. She crouched down and gently pet the still body of the eevee. "If they could understand why and how pokemon evolve, what's to stop us from figuring out a way for humans to achieve a similar transformation?"

I wanted to yell and scream, kick and shout, anything that would stop the vile woman in front of me from touching the eevee she had murdered. However, she continued to speak as she stuck the injector she had been carrying into the silver eevee.

"Wild pokemon are just too varied and different for reliable data to be gathered from," Yovana said as she drew blood from the dead pokemon, turning to face me as the vial on her injector filled with the red liquid. "So we created something. A creature that would evolve to whatever the situation called for." The woman checked the vial she was filling and after a satisfied nod, removed the needle from the limp body.

"They were all male at first," the woman said as she began to stand up and walk towards me. "To control population and ensure consistent data. But I guess we made them _too_ adaptable. Females began to appear and suddenly we had run-away population growth and escapes." The woman was in front of me now, holding up the syringe to the moonlight coming in through the glass ceiling of the Hab. "We had to cull the escaped population before our secret research became known, but everything became much more complicated when they were captured by trainers." Yovana stopped her inspection of the vial in her hand and looked back down at me. I had lost all feeling by now and could barely blink if I wanted to. The woman gave a rough kick to where she had broken my ribs earlier, managing to make me give a weak moan in pain.

"Oh, good, you're still alive. For a moment there, I was worried this sample might go to waste." The woman crouched in front of me and put the vial in front of my face. "You see, our research hasn't stopped just because some pesky test subjects escaped. We've been applying our findings towards what started this all, human evolution. Unfortunately, most of our tests have been…" Yovana got a sinister look as she stared me in the eyes. "Well, lets just say we know a lot of ways that do _not_ work. Right now, we're focusing on the hybridization of the eevee genome with the human one. In practice though, the binding of the two usually results in multiple medical complications and ultimately, an agonizingly painful death as multiple organs fail." The woman suddenly put on a fake cheery smile.

"But, maybe you're different!"

Yovana pressed a button on the side of the injector, causing another liquid to mix with the blood, causing it to turn a caustic black color before slowly changing to a clear fluid.

"Hmm," the woman murmured as she looked intently at the clear serum. "A shiny eevee… I don't think this has ever been tried. Too bad I won't be around to make a detailed observation. Evidence to destroy and whatnot." The woman suddenly pressed the needle to the back of my neck. It felt worse than any kind of pain I had ever felt before, and that was before she began to slowly inject the substance into me. I swore I felt my teeth crack as my jaw clenched involuntarily, the only muscle in my body that seemed to be able to move at the moment. After what had to be an eternity, I was able to register the woman standing back up.

"I'm never too sure what to tell people after this point," the woman said thoughtfully as she looked down at me. "I guess… don't fight it? I mean, it's all inevitable at this point either way, right? I'll be sure to keep my eye on the papers to see if your obituary shows up. Expect a visit if it doesn't. Farewell, Shinen Abe." With that, Yovana began to walk off into the dark woods, the pain stemming from the base of my neck was becoming more and more intense by the second. As my vision began to tunnel, I saw a small amount of movement out of the corner of my eye.

Suddenly, the pain I had been dealing with lessened tenfold and I was able to move a small amount. I looked around and noticed a blue and pink feeler resting on my hand.

"Yumi!" I rasped out, crawling as best as I could manage towards the mortally wounded sylveon. I could see that the breaths of the wounded pokemon were becoming more erratic and labored and began to cry as I gently pet one of the first pokemon I had known since working at the lab.

' _Friend'_

It wasn't a spoken or thought word that came from the dying sylveon, but more of an intense collection of vibrant and powerful feelings that Yumi shared in his final moments.

' _Friend'_

I nodded solemnly at the sylveon as he took another heavy breath.

"Yes," I silently sobbed. "You're a friend. A dear friend." Yumi finally closed his eyes and as he let out his last breath, the pain returned a hundred times worse than anything it had been before the sylveon had lessened it for me. The sudden influx was enough to knock me into a dark abyss that was anything but peaceful.


	2. Follow Through

[CHAPTER 2: Follow Through]

I don't know what I was expecting when I woke up. Maybe I just wasn't expecting anything and the fact that I was experiencing anything at all was the largest surprise. However, before I could appreciate the fact I was still somehow alive, I was hit with the first wave of pain. I let out a startled gasp, not expecting such a sharp reminder of the fight so quickly. My sudden noise elicited another from someone who had been in the room with me.

"Doctor, he's awake!" I heard someone yell, causing my ears to ring painfully. Every nerve in my body felt like it had been removed by someone with sledgehammers for hands, burnt to a crisp, and then placed back in my body in the completely wrong order.

"Mr. Abe, can you understand me?" an older voice asked. I tried opening my eyes for the first time since waking up before the burning light made me shut them again. While the man wasn't yelling, his voice still left a loud ringing in my ears.

"Yes," I whispered out hoarsely, the simple action of speaking making my throat burn and my jaw ache. "Where am I?" I asked over the complaints of my body, trying to open my eyes only for my retinas to begin to burn in the white light of the room yet again.

"You're in a medical room here at the lab," the older voice said as the lights in the room dimmed a bit. I was finally able to make out the outline of a man near the light dimmer on the wall. I tried to give him an appreciative nod, but even that caused me to let out another hiss of pain.

"Try to relax," the man said as he walked up to the side of my bed. "It looks like you're still in a great deal of pain."

"Yeah," I muttered in spite of myself, hearing the older man chuckle slightly to himself. "Where's Yovana? Did she escape?" I raspily asked, starting to get used to the constant thrumming of pain coursing through my body. I looked up at the man who had a concerned scowl on his face that didn't sit well with me.

"Whoever Yovana really was, she was a professional. The surveillance for the entire night was wiped. All the records she had, all the research, gone. And, of course, the eevee…" the man had the sense to look away as I felt my anger and grief return. But even through my pain and grief, a moment of clear thinking came over me.

"… Hibiki…"

"What's that?" the older doctor beside me questioned, not quite hearing the murmured name.

"The eevee child, Hibiki," I repeated, starting to move despite the massive pain I felt with each movement.

"Shinen, you really shouldn't be-"

"Where is Hibiki?" I asked urgently as I swung my feet out of the bed and began to remove the needles and adhesive pads attached to me. My brain was screaming at me to stop moving and even the doctor looked like he was getting ready to take drastic measures, but I wasn't going to be stopped until I was sure the single remaining eevee at our lab was safe. I growled in pain as I began to stagger towards the door, hearing the doctor call for help behind me as I pushed past the nurse who I assumed had shouted when I first woke up.

Once I was in the hallway, I easily recognized where I was and began to make my way towards the nearest Hab entrance. I heard some shouts from behind me, but ignored them as I quickly ran up to a door and entered the PIN for entry. Once I was inside the space, I quickly began running towards where the fight had occurred. The morning light was harsher on my eyes than I ever remembered it being, but I couldn't find myself caring as I stumbled into the burnt clearing. The bodies from last night were gone, but there were still dark stains on the burnt and charred ground. The pain that I had been starving off finally came crashing back, forcing me to fall to my knees and suck in shallow, painful breaths.

I felt a small trickle on my leg and looked down to see red blood coming from the freshly opened wound I had received last night. How much of it was actually my blood now? A slight rustling caught my muddled attention from not too far off. Near the spot the silver haired eevee had jumped out from last night, I was just able to make out some brown fur hidden in the lightly charred grass.

"Hibiki?" I breathed out lightly, not sure if I was actually seeing what I thought I saw, or if the sunlight that was entirely too bright was starting to get to me. There was another rustling noise as the brown figure hidden in the burnt green grass moved slightly. I winced silently as I got back up and slowly walked towards what I hoped and prayed was Hibiki's hiding spot. As I drew closer, I tried to get lower despite the pain, both so I could see better, but more importantly, so I wouldn't be as intimidating to any small pokemon that may be hiding. "Hibiki?" I gently called again, this time positive I wasn't imagining the small eevee hiding in the grass.

The small brown pokemon gave an even smaller cry as it recognized me and bounded towards me. I quickly scooped up the small eevee and held them close, feeling no small amount of stress and worry leave me at knowing Hibiki was alright.

"Shin?" a female voice called out, breaking me out of my protective cradling of Hibiki. I looked up and saw Alyssa standing at the edge of the burnt clearing with some of our security right behind her. "Is that the survivor?" my fellow caretaker asked, pointing at the slightly frightened eevee in my grasp. I nodded before replying.

"Hibiki," I said as calmly as I could. "Her name is Hibiki."

"Is she going to be alright?" Alyssa asked, taking a step closer. I felt the eevee shift nervously in my arms.

"She's scared right now," I quickly said, making Alyssa stop her advance. "She's going to need some time with individuals she trusts, to let her know that things are going to be okay." I gently began to pet the eevee who was still shifting nervously in my arms but calmed down with each stroke I gave.

"You still need to be checked over by the doctor," Alyssa said, glancing over her shoulder and receiving an affirming nod from the nurse who had been in the room with the doctor and I moments ago. My female co-worker took another glance at me before turning back to the nurse. "Can the eevee come with him?"

The nurse looked affronted by the question at first and seemed to have a sharp negative response on the tip of her tongue before she looked at the small, scared pokemon in my arms. Her retort seemed to die on her lips and after a moment, she gave Alyssa a somewhat hesitant nod.

"Is that okay with you, Shin?" Alyssa asked softly, not coming any closer. I gave a silent nod and without stopping my stroking of Hibiki, stood up and made my way back to the medical room I had ran out of. Every step was still painful and I could feel the trickle of blood on my leg eventually make its way to my foot, leaving bloody prints on the tiled floors. But I didn't let any of it interrupt my attempts at soothing Hibiki who didn't make any attempt to leave my arms.

Back inside the examination room, the doctor performed his tests as quietly and quickly as he could, being mindful of the still frightened eevee I held. He quickly tended to the wound on my leg that had opened back up and gave me some pain-killers that I readily took. After he was done, he took a step back and gave a light sigh before sporting a small smile.

"Well, normally I'd say that you should stay in bed for the next couple of days and take it easy, but seeing as you've already demonstrated both the will and ability to move around, I think you'll be set to go home by the end of the day. Of course, I'm still going to tell you to take it easy and put you on some medical leave for the next couple of weeks, but other than your broken ribs and the wounds on your thigh and arm, you seem to be okay."

"What about the serum?" I asked concernedly. The broken ribs and flesh wounds on my arm and leg were indeed painful, but the constant pain I was feeling with each beat of my heart certainly wasn't caused by them.

"Serum?" the doctor parroted with a confused scowl. "What serum?"

"Last night, Yovana injected me with some kind of serum she got from the silver eevee's blood," I told the doctor as his scowl deepened. "She stuck me with some kind of injector right on my neck," I said, bowing my head so the doctor could look. The man made his way over to me, but after a few moments of looking and gently moving my hair and medical gown, stepped back with a small sigh.

"I don't see any needle marks," the man began, looking at me closely. "And the last I checked, Yumi and Moeru only had one child and she's here with us right now." I felt some worry start to creep its way into my pained heart and apparently Hibiki could sense it too as she began to fidget in my hands. I quickly pushed the worry away and redoubled my efforts at comforting the young eevee.

"But their body," I began, thinking back to the night with no small amount of sadness. "It was lying at the base of the tree…" The doctor gave a heavy sigh before walking up to me and gently laying his hand on my shoulder, mindful to not cause me any pain.

"Shin, only Yumi and Moeru were out there near you when we found you last night."

"But-" I tried before the doctor cut me off.

"Sometimes, when people go through a traumatic experience," he began, "they… see things that didn't happen. They try to make sense of a horrible, terrible thing-"

"But it happened!" I defended, feeling Hibiki start in my hands at my sudden declaration. I mentally slapped myself and tried comforting the eevee again. "I know what I saw," I said much more calmly and quietly. The doctor gave another sigh.

"Look, there isn't anything to back you up. I'm not going to argue the point, but right now, it seems highly unlikely that Yovana injected you with anything nefarious. Even if she did, pokemon blood shouldn't be too much of a threat to a healthy individual such as yourself, especially if it was a pokemon as… well, for lack of a better word, normal, as an eevee." I didn't look up at the man as I continued to look down at Hibiki who was just now beginning to close her eyes and nod off to sleep.

"How about this," the doctor said after a pause. "We'll do blood tests every day until you're fit to start working again? On the off chance she did inject you with something, we'll be able to notice it and get you any medical attention you may need. Sound good?" I knew the man still doubted I had been injected with anything, and I knew I couldn't really blame him for thinking so, but I knew what I saw had been real. I gave the doctor a silent nod as I continued to stroke Hibiki who was now asleep in my arms.

"Alright then," the doctor said quietly, respecting Hibiki's slumber. "I'll be in my office if you need anything, but otherwise, you're cleared to go home. The nurse will be in with your clothes and other items shortly." I nodded my understanding before the man left, leaving the room with just me and the eevee in my arms its sole occupants.

What had been done with the silver eevee's body? Had Yovana taken it? What else had she done before I had been found? Why wasn't I dead? I shook my head at all the thoughts running through it. For now, I would just be thankful for the few weeks I would get off of work and the fact that both I and Hibiki were still alive. It wasn't long before the nurse walked in with a change of clothes that had been in my locker and left.

I gently placed Hibiki on the examination bed before quickly changing into my spare clothes, glad to be out of the drafty medical gown. As I made all the necessary movements to undress and dress my self, I felt each and everyone of my muscles complain over the dulling effect the pain-killer was trying to have. Once I completed my slow changing, a thought came to me as I looked over at the sleeping eevee. Where would she stay while I was recovering? Hibiki no longer had any parents and with some psycho lady hunting for her and me, just leaving her alone and defenseless in the Hab didn't sit right with me.

Then, I thought of the one person, or perhaps pokemon, in the Hab who I wouldn't ever call defenseless.

Being careful not to wake up the sleeping eevee, I scooped her up and made my way into the Hab once again, noticing that the halls had already been cleaned of my bloody footprints. Once I entered the Hab, I made my way towards where a large tree had once stood, knowing I would most likely find my query near the massive stump. As expected, pacing around the large stump was Karie, seemingly deep in thought about something. So deep in fact, she didn't seem to notice my approach until I stepped on a fallen branch that cracked under my weight. The absol immediately looked up and upon recognizing me, made what I assumed to be a happy cry. The sudden noise was enough to wake the sleeping Hibiki who tiredly observed our surroundings.

As Karie approached, she seemed to notice the eevee in my arms and stopped short of me by a meter as I began to crouch down and gently place Hibiki on the ground.

"Hibiki, this is Karie," I began, looking first at the eevee and then at the absol behind her. "She's a strong and loyal friend who will make sure you stay safe while I'm gone," I continued. "Won't you Karie?" I asked, looking pointedly at the absol who came over and experimentally sniffed the eevee who looked a little intimidated. "Don't worry, she's really a big push-over," I whispered to Hibiki, earning a light smack from Karie's scythe-like horn. The eevee tentatively sniffed at one of Karie's comparatively large paws before turning back to face me with what I would call a worried expression.

"You'll be fine," I said encouragingly, though deep down, I was still extremely worried about the eevee. "Karie is going to make sure you're safe, and I'll come to visit every day, I promise," I said as I reached out to stroke the eevee's head. "And you," I started as I reached out with my other hand and gave Karie a few pats as well. "You make sure she is safe. From everyone. Okay?" The absol sharpened her eyes and gave a resolute nod. "Good." I stood up, still wincing slightly as another wave of pain managed to overcome the pain-killers I hadn't taken more than an hour ago.

"Be good you two," I said as I looked down at the two pokemon. "I'll be back tomorrow." With that, I began to walk back towards the exit of the Hab, glancing back only once to see that both pokemon were still watching me walk off.

"They'll be fine," I told myself as I came to the door of my home. "They'll be fine." I pulled out my keys and undid the lock of my door. As soon as my foot entered the house, a worried 'Kin' came from a nearby room before Kogeta rocketed into the entryway to greet me.

"Hey there Kogeta," I said as I shut the door behind me and crouched down to give the fennekin the attention it hadn't received in my absence. "I'm sorry I wasn't here last night," I apologized as the pokemon tried to meld its self into my hands and legs. "I'll be making up for it over the next couple of weeks though, so settle down." Kogeta gave me a somewhat reproachful stare before following me into the kitchen where I gave her a larger than normal serving of food. I wasn't too hungry myself and headed for my bathroom to get ready for an early rest.

I was nearly done with my routine for going to sleep before something in my reflection caught my eye.

All my life, I had plain brown eyes, unimpressive in every way. The most normal, boring shade of brown you can imagine, not even a fleck of uniqueness in them. So when I noticed them a nearly iridescent amber color, I forgot about the pain that was once again beginning to course through my body like blood. Blood that wasn't completely mine. As if suddenly noticing the change had flipped a switch, I began smelling a plethora of smells I had never noticed before. The stale oder of milk that had begun to go bad in the kitchen sink from when I had last had breakfast two days ago. The large pile of unwashed clothes lying in the laundry room. A strange smokey, campfire smell that seemed to hang in the air.

The large array of smells was overwhelming me and making the mounting headache that had been slowly building suddenly reach a critical point. I grunted in pain and winced my eyes shut, opening them a moment later to look back in the mirror. Normal, unimpressive eyes stared back. The strange smells in my house were now gone. Suddenly, my nose began to bleed so I quickly reached for a tissue and made my way towards my bedroom.

"What the hell is happening to me?" I asked myself as I dabbed at my nose as I walked into my bedroom, turning off all the lights as they were making my head pound. My nose slowly stopped bleeding just as I put myself to bed, the dull pain wreaking my body lessening just enough for me to fall asleep.

* * *

Before I was even fully awake, I knew something was wrong.

Or different.

Weird.

Definitely weird.

I knew I could get into some pretty strange positions when I slept, having had to apologize to Kogeta some mornings for my fitful sleep pushing her from the foot of my bed. But this felt even stranger than that. I tried opening my eyes, but somehow the blanket had managed to come up over my head and all that greeted me was darkness. Strangely, the pulsing pain I had been dealing with from before was gone, but in it's place was something almost equally disturbing. Every movement my arms or legs made seemed… off. My fingers didn't seem to be working quite right, and even my ears felt strange as I moved my head around to try and find the exit to my sheet prison. As I slowly made my way towards what I hoped was the head of the bed, I even began to feel a strange sensation come beyond where my spine should've ended…

Without meaning to, I felt myself begin to panic, the fact that I still couldn't see anything due to the covers blocking out my vision making my attempt to escape the clutches of my bed a little more desperate. Since when had it been this big anyways?

Finally, my head escaped the confines of my expansive sea of sheets, answering some of my burning questions, but raising too many more in their place.

The first thing I noticed was that my bed was definitely larger now than it had been when I fell asleep. Then I noticed my hands were covered in black, short fur. And they weren't hands any more. I felt my ears go flat against my head as they involuntarily reacted to my shock and mounting panic, causing my shock and panic to increase even more. My ears shouldn't be moving this much!

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" someone yelled from behind me, causing my ears to yet again instinctively flick away from the sound. I quickly tried removing the rest of my body from the cloth ensnarement I had woken up in before turning to face one very riled up fennekin.

"Kogeta?" I asked, astonished to hear something other than a friendly 'kin' come from her.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?!" Kogeta shouted at me, her eyes seeming to go even wider in anger and shock. "WHERE IS SHIN?! SHIN! SHIN! INTRUDER! SHIN!"

"Kogeta! Calm down! It's me!" I pleaded, looking around slightly worried someone may actually come to investigate what was going on. My pleads went unheeded though and seemed to only stoke Kogeta's flame, literally. I was beginning to feel an unnatural warmth radiate from Kogeta as she continued to yell at me.

"IT'S WHO?! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH SHIN?!" Kogeta asked me, beginning to march up to me despite her still being smaller than me. "DID YOU EAT HIM?! DID YOU EAT MY HUMAN?!"

"Eat him?" I asked, confused how Kogeta had managed to get to that. "No! Look, Kogeta, it's me! I'm Shin!"

"…" Kogeta looked like she was about to go off on another shouting rant but paused in her intake of breath to actually look over me. "Don't move," the fennekin quickly commanded before cautiously inching closer, keeping her eyes trained on mine for any hint of movement. Once she got closer, she began taking small sniffs of the air around me, pausing after a couple of breaths. She pulled back a little and scowled hard at me before taking another sniff to be sure.

"Satisfied?" I asked hopefully, watching intently as Kogeta stepped away from me again.

"Prove it," the fire type demanded, giving me a hard look. "Prove you're him."

"Then what was the sniffin-"

"Just because you smell like him doesn't mean you're him!" Kogeta quickly responded cutting me off and springing back to an attacking stance. "You could have… rolled in his clothes… or… something..." she trailed off, adverting her gaze somewhat.

"Why would anyon-"

"JUST PROVE IT!" Kogeta yelled pointedly, not quite managing to meet my eyes despite her ferocity.

"Your favorite human food are pickles!" I shouted back, causing Kogeta's eyes to widen in surprise and her tail to drop in shock.

"How did you…?"

"Your previous owner was Hanae. You refuse to eat the pink Poke Puffs. It never takes longer than ten seconds for you to greet me when I come home. Happy?" Kogeta was silent for a few moments looking me up and down.

"Shin?" she finally asked, speaking to me in a normal voice for the first time since I could understand her. "But… How?" Kogeta asked as she began to come closer again, looking over my body.

"I don't know," I replied, looking over myself for the first time as well. My whole body was covered in midnight black "So what now?" Kogeta finally after a while. "What's your next move?"

"I don't know," I replied, just now beginning to think about what I was going to do. Somehow, I had been turned into a pokemon, probably at the hands of some nefarious organization that even now was actively looking for me to either take in for research or kill on the spot, and there was no clear way of returning to the life I had lived before. I didn't even have a house to sleep in at the moment.

"Well, is there any place we can stay while you figure it out?" Kogeta asked, sounding a little upset that I didn't have my life more together. "I don't think either of us are particularly battle proficient and I'm not too comfortable walking into the woods without some kind of insurance against being attacked by some feral forest-dwelling pokemon."

The first place that popped into mind was probably the last place Kogeta would want to go after hearing my story, but it was the only place I knew there would be individuals who might be willing to help me.

As I expected, Kogeta was initially very opposed to going to the lab. Who wouldn't be after hearing that three, nearly four deaths occurred there in the last 48 hours. But, after I reasoned that there would be plenty of hiding spots, pokemon that would be friendly and helpful to me, and perhaps most importantly for Kogeta, a climate controlled environment, she reluctantly agreed that the Hab was the best place to get ourselves figured out. However, even as we began to walk towards the lab, I tried to figure out what I should do.

I was sure that whatever organization Yovana was part would continue to hunt for and perform experiments on eevee and eeveeloutions, and seeing as I was part of that group now, it would probably be prudent to figure out how to expose the group to some kind of enforcement agency. Maybe while I was at the Hab, I could try and find out what I could about what Yovana had been up to while she was there. There had to be something she left, something she overlooked when she decided to make her move. After all it wasn't just me who had been wronged by her. Yumi, Moeru, Hibiki and her sibling had all suffered at her hands, so if I wasn't going to do it for myself, I would at least try to do right by them. fur, interrupted by occasional bands and circles of muted blue. I spotted my tail and once again became aware of the strange appendages presence. As Kogeta and I were looking over myself, a sudden shattering noise came from the kitchen, both of our ears flinching at the noise.

"What was that?" we asked each other simultaneously, turning towards where the sound had come from before quickly glancing back at each other. Our attention was once again pulled back towards the door of my room as we picked up hushed voices coming from outside the room. I suddenly remembered what Yovana had told me before leaving me to die.

" _I'll be sure to keep my eye on the papers to see if your obituary shows up. Expect a visit if it doesn't."_

"We need to get out of here," I whispered to Kogeta urgently, my eyes now darting around the room for an escape that didn't involve going through the door the noises were coming from. Picking up on the need to be quiet, Kogeta nodded her understanding before locking her eyes on the window of my bedroom. I followed her gaze and saw the curtains fluttering slightly from the outdoor breeze. Understanding she intended for us to get out of the house through the window, I quickly followed her lead as she nimbly leapt from the bed and towards the window. I, however, was unused to having to land on four legs.

"What was that?" a voice asked from beyond my bedroom door after I had landed about as gracefully as a hastily thrown sack of potatoes.

"Well, I didn't see you dropping anything else, so it was probably someone else in this house," another voice murmured. Both seemed to be closer than they had been just moments before and instead of running towards the window in my panic, I quickly scuttled under the bed. Just as soon as my new body was enveloped by the shadow of the bed, two pairs of feet came into view from the doorway. I anxiously looked back towards where the window was, but other than the fluttering curtains, there wasn't any movement. I hoped that meant that Kogeta had already gotten out of the room.

"Look, the window!" one of the voices said, to the other, both sets of feet walking towards the opening. "You think he got out?"

"If he did, it's because you went and gave us away with your carelessness," the other voice replied, followed by a light smack and a swift cry of pain from the other person.

"Now what?" the first voice asked, worry lacing their tone.

"We make sure we cover our tracks and keep an eye on the places he's likely to visit," replied the other voice. "You get this room, I'll do the others." One set of feet began to walk towards the bedroom door again before they suddenly halted.

"What is-"

"Shh!" the other voice suddenly hushed.

"What is it?" the voice that had been interrupted asked again, whispering now.

Suddenly, without warning, the pair of feet next to the door moved and the person they belonged to was suddenly on the floor with their face peering into the shadows I was hiding in. I froze in fear and surprise, unable to do anything but stare back at the face that seemed to be looking right through me. The person had a pale face that would've been flawless if it wasn't for the long, uninterrupted scratch that ran from his right eyebrow down to his left cheek. His piercing green eyes didn't move for a heart stopping moment as he stared me down but after another breathless moment, the man grunted in frustration and got back up.

"Nothing," the man finally replied. "I thought I heard something moving under there, but I didn't see anything. Anyways, keep an eye out. Other agents reported he lived with a fennekin."

"Oh, so that's why we're burning it," the other person replied. "I was wondering about that…"

"Don't. It's not part of your job to think. Now, get a move on before he gets help." The feet next to the door finally left and I allowed myself to breathe again. Why hadn't he seen me? Before I could wonder about that question much more, a noxious smell suddenly began to fill my nose accompanied by some sloshing noise. I glanced at the other pair of feet and saw a liquid pooling near them that was giving off the overpowering scent.

In some far off part of my memories, I remembered the same smell from when I had visited a harbor a ways away from where I lived. Near the docks where some people were refueling their boats, the same smell had wafted from the pumps. I remembered someone nearby being yelled at for training with their fire type near the fuel as it was very flammable and dangerous. Suddenly, everything began to click.

I tried moving as sneakily as I could towards the door while still remaining under the bed, a task complicated by my new physiology that I had no idea how to operate normally, let alone quietly. Luckily, the person who was dousing my room in fuel was making enough noise to muffle out my clumsy attempts at moving around in darkness unnoticed. Once I was at the edge of the bed, I quickly peeked to make sure the man in my room was still occupied, and upon seeing his attention on one of my Employee of the Month awards that was shiny enough to distract him, I quickly darted out of the room and into the hallway. I decided to try and head towards the back door, hoping the small flap door I had installed a couple of months ago for Kogeta would be large enough for me to get out without attracting attention.

As I tried moving through the house as fast as I could manage on my new legs, I kept a look out for the other man. I was beginning to think I wouldn't have to deal with him when I suddenly spotted him in between me and my exit, dousing the walls and floor all around him in fuel. It was almost as if he were dancing to some unheard song while he sloshed the liquid out of the container he was using, the corners of his mouth pulled up just enough to make me think he was enjoying what he was doing. Seeming to feel the eyes watching him, the man spun around before I had a chance to react and smiled a feral grin.

"Well, an umbreon, huh?" the man said as he quickly tossed the fuel canister to the side and began grabbing towards his waist. I recognized the motion enough from the previous night to begin to move before whatever the man was grabbing for could be pulled out. I dodged into my living room and hid on the other side of my couch, my ears flush against my back and my tail sticking as close to my body as possible.

"There wasn't any mention about an umbreon at all," the man called out as he entered the room with me. I couldn't see the man directly, but his shadow was visible on the opposite wall of the room, the moonlight streaming into the room enough to back light him. "I imagine they'll pay a little extra for a side extermination…" the man said lowly as he began to search around the room. I carefully watched his shadow and prepared my exit, waiting for the right moment. Just when I was about to make a break for it, the man suddenly yelled out in pain.

"Sylus?!" the man I had left in my room called out upon hearing the pained yell. "What happened?"

"The damn fennekin bit me!" the man replied, now searching around for who I assumed was Kogeta. I frantically joined him in his search, hoping to spot her before the weapon wielding man did.

"Shin," Kogeta suddenly whispered from right beside me, nearly making me yelp in fear and surprise. I looked over at her and noticed her limping slightly, but otherwise uninjured. "Let's go before they find us," she encouraged, nodding her head towards where I had tried exiting earlier. The two of us quickly ran towards the exit. I found it easier to keep up with Kogeta now that she was limping, but realized that I would soon have to either get used to walking on four legs or figure out how to get my old form back. I didn't spare a glance behind us as Kogeta and I ran through her small door. We didn't dawdle next to the house and quickly ran towards the small woods near by, watching from the shadows of some low hanging trees. It wasn't long before there was a bright flash inside the house before two figures quickly retreated from the burning building.

"What the hell happened yesterday!" Kogeta finally asked after watching my house burn for a few moments. "You come home from work after two days of being gone and suddenly you've turned into an umbreon and people are showing up trying to kill you, and when they can't do that, burn down our house!" I winced a little at hearing the last 48 hours being summed up so scathingly.

"I have just about as much of an idea as you do as to why those people were trying to kill us," I replied defensively, trying to wrap my head around everything that was happening.

"How'd you know they were after us then?" Kogeta challenged. "Back in the bedroom, you said we had to get out of there after you got that far off look." I sighed heavily realizing that the night was just beginning and right now, there wasn't much of an option for me to do anything other than explain what the last 48 hours had truly been like to Kogeta. The fennekin quickly lost her angry scowl as I told her about the fates of Yumi and Moeru and their silver haired child. As soon as I finished filling her in, she got a faraway look in her eyes and turned to watch as my house continued its blaze. Somewhere in the distance I could hear some emergency sirens as people began to notice the smoke and flames that were growing out of control.

"So what now?" Kogeta finally asked after a while. "What's your next move?"

"I don't know," I replied, just now beginning to think about what I was going to do. Somehow, I had been turned into a pokemon, probably at the hands of some nefarious organization that even now was actively looking for me to either take in for research or kill on the spot, and there was no clear way of returning to the life I had lived before. I didn't even have a house to sleep in at the moment.

"Well, is there any place we can stay while you figure it out?" Kogeta asked, sounding a little upset that I didn't have my life more together. "I don't think either of us are particularly battle proficient and I'm not too comfortable walking into the woods without some kind of insurance against being attacked by some feral forest-dwelling pokemon."

The first place that popped into mind was probably the last place Kogeta would want to go after hearing my story, but it was the only place I knew there would be individuals who might be willing to help me.

As I expected, Kogeta was initially very opposed to going to the lab. Who wouldn't be after hearing that three, nearly four deaths occurred there in the last 48 hours. But, after I reasoned that there would be plenty of hiding spots, pokemon that would be friendly and helpful to me, and perhaps most importantly for Kogeta, a climate controlled environment, she reluctantly agreed that the Hab was the best place to get ourselves figured out. However, even as we began to walk towards the lab, I tried to figure out what I should do.

I was sure that whatever organization Yovana was part of would continue to hunt for and perform experiments on eevee and eeveeloutions, and seeing as I was part of that group now, it would probably be prudent to figure out how to expose the group to some kind of enforcement agency. Maybe while I was at the Hab, I could try and find out what I could about what Yovana had been up to while she was there. There had to be something she left, something she overlooked when she decided to make her move. After all it wasn't just me who had been wronged by her. Yumi, Moeru, Hibiki and her sibling had all suffered at her hands, so if I wasn't going to do it for myself, I would at least try to do right by them.


	3. Surviving

[CHAPTER 3: Surviving]

"Please tell me that the hardest part of the night is done..." Kogeta whined as we finally stepped into the artificial indoor habitat. Her whining wasn't without merit, getting into the Hab had mostly been good luck with finding an air intake that hadn't been as well maintained as the others and allowed us to enter with some… physical persuasion. And that had been after nearly getting spotted four times on our way towards said intake by some of the extra security that seemed to have come in since the attack in the Hab.

"I'll tell you that once we've found somewhere to sleep," I replied as I scanned around the Hab to try and figure out where exactly we were. Within a couple of seconds, I had a rough idea, my years of working in the building having given me an internal map of the lab and Hab that was as well know as the back of my han… paw.

Yep, still strange to think about.

Just as I was musing about my new anatomy, I felt a sensation I had never once felt before.

"Shin? What's wrong?" Kogeta asked nervously as I stopped walking and quickly began scanning around, my ears instinctively going flat as the presence I sensed drew closer.

"Do you feel it?" I said quietly to my companion. "The air. It feels… heavy."

"Who are you?" a female voice asked from just outside my sight. I frantically turned my head towards the sound, but all I saw was bushes moving back in to place as the figure who had hid in them moved away.

"I'm Shinen Abe," I quickly replied, spinning my head around trying to catch a glimpse of the figure that was circling around us.

"Do you think me a fool?" the feminine voice said back scathingly, outrage clear in the tone it carried. "Shinen Abe is a human, which you are clearly not, and he is a friend of mine, which you are quickly becoming the polar opposite of. Now tell me, who are you?!"

Finally, my sharpened eyesight caught a flash of black and white darting through the grass around me.

"Karie?" I asked aloud. The rustling that had accompanied the figures circling abruptly halted.

"How do you know that name," the voice demanded rather than asked in the coldest tone I had ever heard. The weight the air had before seemed to triple.

"Karie, it's me. I-"

"Liar!" Karie shouted as she finally leapt out of the cover she had been using, true outrage in her eyes as they flashed a dangerous crimson and her scyth-like horn began to glow brighter than I had ever seen, illuminating the area around us with it's pale energetic glow. The fact that she was slightly larger than me now also added to her imposing presence.

"H-he's t-telling the t-truth!" Kogeta shouted frantically from behind me. I suddenly realized I had been trying to stay between her and Karie the whole time and just now consciously remembered she was still here.

"Stay out of this, pipsqueak," Karie said without so much as an eye twitch, her blood red irises fixed on me. "This is between me and the umbreon who claims to be my human." Suddenly, not only was there an overwhelming pressure coming from in front of me, but an incredibly hot inferno coming from behind me.

"YOUR HUMAN?!" Kogeta shouted, suddenly springing to my side, the fearfulness in her voice completely replaced by indignation. For a moment, Karie and I continued to stare at each other and watch as our faces morphed into confusion before we broke our staring contest to look at Kogeta who began shouting once again. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" I suddenly began to wonder what this whole 'my human' thing was about. I had heard Kogeta say it back when she thought I had eaten myself, and now Karie had just called me her human as well.

"I am a warrior. A warrior who was given the name Karie by a human who has no equal amongst his kind. A human who is-"

"MINE!" Kogeta interrupted, the ground around her beginning to smolder from the heat coming off her. "He's mine!" Kogeta repeated, her tail flicking with pent up energy. Karie seemed utterly confused at what to do. On one hand, she had me, an apparent imposter, and on the other, a fennekin disputing her claim on me. Or human me? I had my own thoughts on what would've been a priority, but apparently Karie thought differently.

"… On what grounds?" Karie finally asked after some internal deliberation, her eyes quickly darting between the two of us as if she was still unsure what was the bigger threat.

"Reall-?" I began to ask in surprised disbelief before Kogeta interrupted.

"Dibs!" Kogeta shouted. "I saw him first!"

"Those aren't any grounds upon which to claim a human!" Karie said in outrage, finally deciding to ignore me and deal with what must have been the more real threat. This was who I had let guard Hibiki?

Hibiki!

"Karie, where is Hibiki?" I quickly asked, growing tired of the two exchanging increasingly charged banter.

"What?! How do you know-"

"BECAUSE HE'S SHIN YOU STUPID B-"

"Kogeta!" I quickly barked out, interrupting and scaring both her and Karie. "Both of you just stop this! Karie, I left you in charge of protecting Hibiki. Where is she?" Karie looked back and forth between me and a still cowed Kogeta.

"Shin, is that really you?" she asked, doubt still in her voice, but a hint of belief in her red eyes.

"Yes, it is. How come you've never left the Hab, Karie? Why'd you have to fell the largest tree here? And why do you keep scaring Hanta? He's a great absol, if a little house trained." Many emotions and expressions crossed Karie's face as I barraged her with personal questions to try and prove my identity.

"Yep, that's definitely you," Karie mumbled without quite meeting my amber eyed gaze. "But how?" she asked, regaining her composure and looking back up at me.

"It's a long story," I said, releasing a breath as the intense atmosphere finally dissipated. "But before I tell it again, I'd like to make sure Hibiki is safe."

"Of course," Karie said, her seriousness coming back somewhat. "Follow me." I began to walk after Karie with Kogeta bringing up the rear with her head still hung.

"Oh, come on Kogeta," I sighed after a few seconds of her still acting dejected. "Stop acting all depressed. You've been all strange this evening. Is it because of me?"

"No!" Kogeta quickly replied. "I mean, well… Maybe. Kind of? I don't know. Its just not going how I thought…"

"You thought I would turn into an umbreon one day?" I asked, a little confused.

"N-no!" Kogeta quickly shouted back with an embarrassed crack in her voice. "Not an umbreon..." she huffed under her breath. "I… It's just… This is a lot to take in, okay? And you getting the house burned down and us meeting all these…" Kogeta glanced over at Karie who suddenly pretended not to be listening in to our conversation, "… other pokemon has been all very stressful and-"

"Ah-hem." Karie interrupted with a not at all subtle throat clearing. "Sorry Shin, but I couldn't help but overhear that your dwelling was burned down?"

"Uh, yeah," I replied, still not used to hearing Karie speak. I didn't know why but her voice seemed so much different from what I had expected or imagined. It was definitely more… Female. "They worked for the same group that Yovana did." Karie gave a low growl at the mere mention of the woman's name.

"That despicable human," the absol growled lowly. "Yumi and I may have never shared a relationship like you and he had, but no one should see their mate in such a state."

"Miss K?" a small voice asked from a nearby gigantic stump. "Is that you?" Even in the dim light, I could clearly make out the outline of the small eevee peeking out from a concealed hole at the base of the stump.

"Hibiki?" I called out. "Are you alright?" I could see the confused look cross Hibiki's face as she scanned around in the dark for a human who wasn't around.

"Shin?" she called out, still looking around as she climbed out of her hiding spot fully. "Where are you?"

"Over here," I called out to the small eevee. "I'm, uh, a little different now though," I warned, hoping that at least once tonight I could be greeted without shouting or threats of death.

"More like a lot," Karie murmured. I quickly shot a glance her way before she added, "In a good way." I rolled my eyes and looked back at Hibiki who was coming closer to us.

"Shin?" Hibiki asked again, looking me up and down. While Karie's voice had been a surprise to me, Hibiki's was exactly as I had imagined it. Her eyes began to well up with tears as she took a quick glance over towards Karie who nodded her head just enough for the both of us to notice before Hibiki shot at me with some kind of non-damaging variant of tackle, knocking me off balance.

Before I could recover to my feet or Kogeta and Karie could react, Hibiki was crying into my side, her heavy sobs muffled only by my short black fur. I had no idea what I should do or how I would even begin to do it. My first instinct was to pet Hibiki into a calm, but I didn't even have hands to do that with. So, I did what I could and lowered my head to hers while wrapping my large tail as best I could around her. I felt like it wasn't much, but Hibiki slowly began to calm down, and after a while, grew quiet as she sniffed up tears.

"You're an umbreon now?" The eevee asked after she pulled her head out from under mine enough to talk.

"For now, yes," I replied, a small smile pulling at my face. Hibiki seemed to mull this information over for all of two seconds before she nodded her head like she had just made an important decision.

"Well, I'm glad I get to talk to you like this now," Hibiki said. "Dad said that we could trust you and even mom said you were a good human…" The eevee began to sniffle a little as her eyes got teary again, but she didn't break down into crying again and instead pushed on. "Taki was always jealous of me for getting to play with you. He couldn't stop talking after you met him, you know."

Hibiki continued to talk about her brother and her parents. There would be moments where she would be choked by her emotions, but would push through, seeming to know that if she stopped, it would overwhelm her. She didn't stop until she finally allowed her tired and teary eyes to close with sleep.

"That's the most she's talked since you dropped her off with me," Karie said quietly after a few moments of Hibiki's soft breathing.

"I need to find the people that did this to her family," I said to both Karie and Kogeta as well as myself.

"Why?" Karie asked with a slight scowl on her face. "Her story is a sad one, but revenge isn't-"

"Justice is different from revenge," I cut in. "Besides, if they aren't stopped, Hibiki will be in danger for as long as she lives. And not just Hibiki either. Every eevee. Even me."

"What?" Karie asked, her scowl deepening. "What's this all about Shin? I can understand Hibiki possibly still being in danger, maybe even you, but all eevee…"

"Yeah, you never said anything about this to me," Kogeta jumped in, for once seeming to be in agreement with Karie since meeting her.

"Yovana isn't acting on her own," I began, keeping my voice low to keep from waking Hibiki up. "She is part of a larger group. A group that… created eevee."

"Created eevee?" Karie echoed. "But I thought Hibiki was born here?"

"She was. Her parents were probably born somewhere too, I don't know. What I do know is that Yovana said that eevee were originally created in some lab." I looked at both Karie and Kogeta who seemed confused at everything I was saying. I couldn't really blame them though. I wasn't a scientist and didn't have the first clue at what making something like an eevee entailed. I began to doubt if what Yovana had told me was even the truth. I mean, an entire species made by humans? And not just any species, one that could change into one of any eight possible evolutions? And those were just the ones we knew about…

Then again… eevee were a recent discovery. Unheard of until about thirty years ago, and even then only in one specific region and almost entirely male. New evolutions had been discovered every so often between now and then and their popularity as versatile pokemon had spread their range to nearly every region. Things began to line up with what Yovana had told me the longer I began to think.

"Even if all that's true," Kogeta finally said, shaking her head as if to clear it out, "there isn't anything you can do. You could barely run from those people earlier this evening, let alone fight them. And you wouldn't even know where to start looking for this group. Besides, this Yovana person sounds like she was a crazy human. She probably made everything up!"

"Keep it down," I hissed, feeling Hibiki shift at my side. Kogeta's eyes widened as she remembered Hibiki was trying to sleep. Before the fire type could say any kind of apology, Karie decided to take her turn speaking again.

"You seem to be a natural at this all, Shin."

"Sorry, a natural at what?" I asked, confused at what Karie was referencing exactly.

"Well, I've always noticed you're the most competent human when dealing with the others, taking care of them and feeding them," Karie began, looking between me and Hibiki who I was still curled around. "And now, interacting with this child after she's lost so much…"

I suddenly felt like a spotlight had been shined on me and I had a line to speak, but hadn't ever rehearsed before. Not one of my coworkers had asked about my personal life or even my natural affinity for caring for the Hab's pokemon since I had started working at the lab. Even my girlfriend a few years back had always seemed to avoid speaking too much about either of our pasts…

"Shin?" Karie asked, noticing my look getting farther and farther.

"Sorry just thinking," I quickly replied, trying to shake off the sudden anxiety I felt, but being largely unsuccessful.

"Apologies, I didn't mean to pry," Karie said, looking genuinely ashamed of herself enough to shock me out of my sudden funk.

"What? No, don't feel sorry about that," I said as I shook my head free of my spiraling thoughts. "You just caught me off guard. I've never really talked about my past before, that's all."

"Your past? What does that have to do with-" Kogeta began before Karie shot her a look that actually caused the fennekin to physically recoil.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Karie said after turning back to me. "We all come from different walks of life and whatever your past is, I'm glad it's made you who you are."

"Thanks," I said with a small smile and nod, causing the absol to reciprocate before nervously shifting her weight and stare off in different directions.

"I appreciate you too, Shin," Kogeta quickly added, sending a quick scowl towards Karie while being mindful to keep her voice quiet this time.

"Thanks Kogeta," I lightly laughed.

"But what are you going to do now, Shin?" Karie asked after a length of time. "If what you say is true, and you and Hibiki and all eevee are in trouble, what can you do about it?"

"I don't know yet," I sighed, looking back down at Hibiki to harden my resolve, "but I need to start somewhere and Yovana used to work here. She couldn't have erased her presence here completely. There's got to be some kind of clue, something to go off of."

"Shin?" a sleepy voice came from beside me.

"Hey Hibiki. Sorry, did we wake you?" Before the eevee could answer, Karie stepped in and nudged the small pokemon.

"Come on now, this is no place for someone to go to sleep. Off to the stump."

"But Miss K-" Hibiki whined as she was prodded by Karie until she was standing up.

"No buts! Off to bed." The eevee reluctantly began walking towards the stump where she had come from but before she descended into the den hidden there, she turned around.

"You'll be here tomorrow, right Shin?"

"For sure," I replied with the best smile I could manage with my new mouth. The eevee seemed to appreciate my effort and ducked back into the hole in the ground.

"Kogeta, you should probably get some sleep too," I began, standing up myself.

"But-!"

"No buts for you, either. I know how you get when you don't sleep right and there's enough going on that you don't need to be grumpy on top of it all."

"What about her?" Kogeta asked pointedly as she gave Karie a quick head nod. "Does _she_ have to go to bed?"

"Different sleep schedule," Karie quickly answered before I could. "I'm nocturnal like Shin is."

"But shin is-" Kogeta tried before Karie interrupted.

"Not any more. You feel it, right Shin? The energy?" Now that Karie had called attention to it, I did feel oddly… Awake. I suddenly felt a slight tingle and saw the ground near me glow a soft blue color before it flickered out.

"Woah, what was that?" I asked, looking over myself, wondering what had just happened.

"They call you the moonlight pokemon for a reason, silly," Karie said, sounding excited herself. "I've never seen an umbreon myself before, but I've heard the stories. They say you can control your bands glow to distract and disorient."

"I can control it?" I asked back, looking hard at the different colored fur but not seeing it glow again no matter how hard I stared.

"Apparently, I've never seen it myself," Karie replied as I gave up for the time being.

"Well that's great and all, but Shin is used to sleeping during the night like a normal-"

"Kogeta, I'm wide awake," I stated plainly. The fire type let out a huge frustrated huff.

"Fine! I get it! I'm going to bed now! Hope you're happy!" She turned around and began walking before suddenly stopping and not moving.

"I'm sure Garth, our arcanine, wouldn't mind you sticking around him a while," I offered, guessing Kogeta had no idea where to go. "Just a little to the left and straight." Kogeta adjusted her course and continued on her way without so much as a backwards glance. After she was out of sight, Karie let out a small chuckle.

"I guess I understand how you were able to deal with me so easily now."

"She's normally much more…" but I couldn't find it in myself to lie to Karie. Kogeta was always a handful when she was grumpy. "Today's been a rough day," I tried instead.

"So, are you really going to try and find the people who killed Yumi?" Karie asked after a stretch of time.

"I honestly don't know what else to do," I admitted. "It's the only thing that makes sense to me right now."

"Well, I suppose we should start looking for clues then."

"You'll help me?" I asked, surprised. "You didn't seem too convinced when I explained it to you before."

"Believing Yovana and helping you are two different things. Maybe her story about the eevee being 'created' is true, maybe not. But what I know to be true regardless is your determination to help Hibiki, and I can get behind that. I suppose we'll have to start at…"

"… Yeah," I agreed, both of us not wishing to say aloud the location we knew we would have to start at. Without discussing it further, we began walking. It didn't take long to come to the clearing. There was some yellow and black tape set up around the scene now as well as some plastic markers on the ground.

"Some strange humans came in after you had left," Karie answered for me. "They put up all these things and wouldn't let any of the other humans or pokemon nearby."

"Why would they- Ow!" I shouted out as I tried to cross the yellow and black tape.

"It shocks you when you try to pass," Karie smirked as I gave her an evil eye. "I was going to tell you but then you just kept walking."

"What about the electric types?" I asked, experimentally putting weight on my leg and determining there wasn't any real damage done.

"It drains them instead," Karie replied. "They're able to get through, but they don't like staying in for very long."

"I'd imagine so," I replied, scanning around for any opening in the taped up area. During my search, a small glint caught my eye. "What's that?" I muttered to myself, making my way around the boundary the tape made, Karie following closely, curious as to what I saw. Lying on the ground was a used syringe that I quickly recognized as the one Yovana had used when she healed her leg.

"What is it?" Karie asked, sniffing the device before scrunching up her nose at the thick chemical smell.

"Yovana used it when I fought her," I replied, looking closely at the device and noticing some words etched into the glass. "RTE," I began before squinting to read the smaller text below it. "Revolution Through Evolution."

"Wow, that's…"

"Well, I guess when you're paying a bunch of money on making a pokemon, marketing gets a cut," I muttered sarcastically.

"Marketing?" Karie asked, looking at me confused.

"It's a human thing," I dismissed, pawing the syringe to see if there was anything on the other side. "Nothing," I grumbled, knocking the vial away.

"What about her office?" Karie asked.

"No, the Hab is completely sealed off from the rest of the lab. I was lucky I was even able to get in here from outside. Reaching her office would be…" I trailed off as Karie's eyes suddenly became evasive. "Karie?"

"… Completely is a strong word."

"Karie, is there a way into the offices from the Hab?"

"Well, I guess you aren't a human anymore, so, it's not like you could do anything anyways…"

"There's a way in from the Hab!?" I asked, shocked. "How long!? Who knows about it?! This is-"

"This is a secret that you're not going to share," Karie said with narrowed eyes. I settled down a bit and nodded my head. "Good. Follow me." I silently followed the absol as we walked the perimeter of the Hab. I began to feel the temperature drop and realized we were heading into the tundra area.

"Humans really don't like the cold. Enough so that they haven't noticed this," Karie said as she squeezed between a loose vent and the wall. I shook my head at the failing of myself and other caretakers before exploiting the loophole I silently vowed I would fix if I ever changed back into a human. Inside the vent, Karie and I were pounded with cold air and I began to wonder just where the wind tunnel would lead before Karie disappeared through a latch just ahead.

"Where is this? I asked as the roaring wind left my ears once I joined Karie.

"I don't know, I've never tried to leave this room. I just like to come here when Hanta is being extra… well, extra," Karie admitted, stopping me as I scanned the room.

"Now there's something I've been meaning to ask you!" I suddenly said, causing Karie to moan.

"Can we not?" Karie said with desperation in her voice that just made me want to go on that much more.

"But why?" I asked, finding Karie's distress somewhat amusing. "I know he's a bit 'tamed'-"

"A bit?" Karie parroted. "It's like he never stepped foot on anything that wasn't covered in silk."

"Really? That bad?" I asked, wondering if I had actually misjudged how badly Hanta was stuck in his trainer-raised mentality.

"Well, maybe not THAT bad, but you get the idea. And your encouraging him isn't doing me any favors either! Let's just look for that ladies room, okay?"

"Fine, fine," I replied, still grinning at having got the absol riled up. I quickly spotted the PIN pad on the wall and after jumping up against the wall, slowly entered the PIN as best I could with my paw. After a few tries, the door chimed and we were able to get through. I quickly recognized that we were coming out of a maintenance closet near the front entrance and held back Karie from charging out into the open.

"Stick close to me," I told Karie lowly. "There is a guard at the front entrance and cameras on the first floor." The absol nodded and waited for me to make my first darting move to a blind spot where I knew the cameras to be. With my keen eyes, I could easily see the swiveling camera in the darkness and the last couple of hours of excitement had helped me hone control of my body enough that my steps on the tiled floor were nearly silent. I peeked around a corner where a guard would be stationed and saw that instead of just one officer standing a watch, three were standing alert and focused. I scowled in confusion before I realized that of course security would be heightened both outside _and_ inside. I suddenly began to fear that the rest of the building would be guarded or patrolled.

After Karie and I made our way past the three guardsmen at the door, we continued our way towards where Yovanas lab would be. Sure enough, we nearly ran into a paroling officer near the stairs to the second floor. Once we managed to get to the second floor though, I let out a breath of relief. Now that we didn't have to worry about the cameras, any officers we encountered would be comparatively easy to evade.

"This is weird," Karie said as we walked around the second floor stealthily.

"Why's that?"

"I'm always escorted by a human outside the Hab," Karie said as we walked on. "It's strange to not feel… watched? I think you noticed it too, right? The other humans, they always were weary of me."

"That's how people are around dark types. They expect them to be… bad."

"Bad?"

"Evil. To want to hurt things for no reason, be mean."

"Why?" Karie asked, sounding a little hurt and confused.

"There's an unfortunate tendency for dark types to be used by criminal organizations," I explained with a sigh. "That, and darkness in general is something humans are instinctively fearful of."

"So they thought I was going to hurt them?" Karie asked, sounding surprised but still unable to lose the confusion and hint of hurt in her voice. "But I never interacted with humans before I came here," she tried rationalizing with me. "And I-"

"I don't know what they thought or why they thought it, Karie," I cut in, giving the absol a sympathetic glance. "But I do know they missed out on a lot." It looked like Karie was about to say something more, but was silent the rest of the walk to Yovana's room. I repeated my PIN for Yovana's door, but instead of it opening, a red message flashed on the device beside the door.

DENIED

"What's wrong?" Karie asked after I muttered a curse under my breath.

"I can't get into that room," I replied. "I think they changed the code." Karie began to look around the hallway before she looked intently at the door, like she was studying it.

"About how strong do you think these doors are?" Karie tried to ask as if she was talking about something unrelated to our situation, like what the latest tournament results were or if someone had tried the new flavor of soda being sold at the corner store.

"Karie, what are you thinking?" I asked wearily, sending darting glances around. If she made any kind of ruckus opening the door, the guards patrolling would be on us faster than we could hide.

"I'm thinking that for such a strong door…" Karie suddenly began to crackle with electricity causing me to quirk an eyebrow as my hairs rose up on end before she discharged at the doors control panel. "… It's point of failure is pretty weak." The door suddenly chimed open and Karie walked in as if she had just simply finished her mundane conversation. I quickly followed her in before the door slid back shut.

"… H-how did you-?" I began before Karie cut me off.

"You find some interesting things in the wild sometimes. One day I had found a disk in a machine some human had left behind. I went to investigate it and somehow turned it on. After a bright flash, I suddenly knew that move."

"I never knew you knew any electric type moves…" I muttered to myself as I began to note the room around me.

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone either. Having a surprise like that can really help out in a fight."

"I bet," I agreed as we began to walk around the room looking for anything that seemed like it might help us. But it was quickly looking like the trip to the office had been an exercise in futility. Everything was bare and gone. Yovana had certainly been exhaustive in leaving no trace and I didn't doubt that the place had been combed by law enforcement for evidence as well. Just as I was beginning to think about calling it quits, I noticed a sheet of paper just barely sticking out from under a cabinet on the ground, the white parchment standing out just enough against the light gray this part of the floor was.

"What's this," I muttered to myself and Karie as I pawed the paper from out of it's hiding spot. It seemed to be just one page of a larger report if the number '48' at the bottom was anything to go by, but that didn't make the content I began to read any less interesting.

' _-competent in his handling of the specimens, but seems overly attached, and not just to 136 and 700 either, but the entire assortment of specimens here. Refer to report U742 for a detailed example I observed between employee Shinen Abe and specimen 700. Perhaps there is some merit in trying to manipulate this individual for more unrestricted access to specimens 136 and 700, as well as their offspring, specimen 133. This tactic, however, seems unlikely to succeed. I've noticed a distinct weariness of me from the individual and it might be prudent to put into place a contingency should my manipulations be unsuccessful._

' _I've noticed the behavior of 136 to be indicative of two offspring, but have yet to see a second 133. My embedded informant assures me that only one 133 is present in the lab, however, I would prefer this statement to be validated by one of the actual caretakers. Their interactions with the specimens ensures a much more reliable assessment than that of someone like-'_

I groaned in frustration as the report abruptly ended, to be continued on a page I didn't have. My mind began to furiously work on who could've been Yovana's informant.

"What does it all say?" Karie asked, looking between me and the paper on the ground.

"She wasn't alone," I replied, frantically searching around for anything else that could clue me in on who collaborated with the mysterious woman known as Yovana, but finding nothing. "She had someone else helping her. Someone who didn't work in the Hab, but someone who at least knew about what went on here." I sighed in frustration after my fourth lap around the room without anything to show for it other than a confused Karie.

"We should probably get back to the Hab," Karie said gently after sitting with me for a moment while I tried to think of what to do next. "There isn't much time until the day crew gets here." I nodded in agreement but didn't make a move to leave. "Shin, I'm sorry we weren't able to find more," Karie said softly.

"No, it's not your fault," I replied, being rocked out of my brooding by her voice. "I should be thanking you for helping me out so much tonight." Karie seemed to puff with pride at my praise. "You're right," I finally agreed, "let's get out of here before we're caught."

The trip back to the room we had come out of seemed much easier on the way back and we found ourselves inside the Hab just as the sun was beginning to peak through the top windows. I once again found the light, even in it's early morning haze, overpowering and disorienting.

"You'll get used to it eventually," Karie said with a slight chuckle once she noticed my obvious discomfort. "But you'll always be better attuned to the night," she reassured as I gave her a doubtful look in response to her first statement. As we continued to walk along, I began to hear a large commotion coming from the area of the Hab were there was an attached loading dock for large transport trucks.

"What's that noise?" I asked Karie, hoping a local resident might be more knowledgeable about what the plethora of new noises meant in the place I had worked in for years.

"New arrivals," Karie replied after she had stopped walking to listen to what I had heard. "It's always loud like that over there when they bring in new pokemon."

"Well," I said, feeling some of the familiar excitement I felt whenever I knew we were getting new arrivals. "Let's go make them feel welcome. I may not be a human anymore, but I still feel like I work here," I told Karie as I began to sprint towards the cacophony, feeling my ears twitch with each sound and for the first time somewhat enjoying the novel sensation.

"Wait for me," Karie complained as she tried to keep up with my sudden change of pace, but I felt a little competitive. It truly felt like the first time I was running for myself and not for some instinctual response required for survival since I had changed. I quickly came to the clearing where a bunch of new pokemon were milling about, taking stock of their probably sudden transition from some form of caged transport to an open environment.

"Welcome!" I said excitedly and slightly out of breath to a chikorita who jumped in surprise at my sudden appearance and greeting.

"Uh, hi," They replied after glancing around, seeming to make sure I was talking to him. "Where am I?"

"This is a laboratory where people research pokemon and how they interact with each other," I said as I regained my breath, earning the attention of some of the other pokemon who had been in the clearing.

"A laboratory?" an anxious looking skitty repeated. "Are there humans?"

"Yes," I replied slowly, wondering what made the skitty so scared of any potential human interaction. "But if any of them give you trouble, come straight to me and I'll take care of it." The skitty still looked nervous about having to deal with humans, but seemed grateful for my offer. Just as I was getting ready to volunteer to help the newly arrived pokemon find some places to live, a massive wave of… something hit me and flung my unprepared body through the air before I tumbled to a halt beside a rock. I heard gasps and cries of surprise, but other than a few sore spots from where I had landed, I felt fine.

"What the…?" I muttered to myself as I got up. I shot a confused glare towards the new arrivals to try and find my attacker, but found them all staring back towards where they had came from. Following their gaze, I saw a glowing ruby red jewel and faint pink aura of physic energy radiating in waves off of a pokemon still hidden in the shadows of the container truck the others had emerged from. Suddenly, the aura around the unidentified pokemon spiked in brightness and the rock I had fallen beside rose up in the air. I quickly scrambled out of the way as the large boulder fell and impacted the ground I had stood on just a moment ago.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" I yelled in fright and anger at the figure. At my yelled question, the figure finally began to come into the light, revealing a pink sleek and agile looking espeon who's jewel was glowing brightly with psychic energies as the excess power around them rolled off like smokey waves. Their twin tails seemed to twitch with anger and a mind of their own as they all but whispered their reply which my sensitive ears barely picked up.

"Surviving."


End file.
